COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (May 24, 2004) – Celebrate the Memorial Day holiday with a summer evening of chamber music.

The Southeast Chamber Music Institute at Tennessee Tech University kicks off its 10th annual Summer Evenings of Chamber Music concert series with a performance by the Cumberland Quintet at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 31, at the university’s Wattenbarger Auditorium.

The series continues with other concerts on the next three consecutive nights. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Wattenbarger Auditorium, and tickets are $5 at the door or $15 for a season pass to all four shows.

Pieces featured in the Memorial Day concert will include “Presto” by Haydn; “Three Bagatelles” by Ligeti; “Scaramouche” by Milhaud, with a saxophone solo by Phillip Barham; “Ancient Hungarian Dances” by Farkas; and “Into the Blue,” a tribute to bluegrass music by award-winning TTU composer Greg Danner.

A faculty chamber music concert is set for the following night — Tuesday, June 1 — and it features Roger Martin on flute, accompanied by Catherine Godes on piano, performing Gaubert’s “Fantaisie for flute and piano” and Barham on saxophone presenting Granados’s “Danza Espagnola No. 5” and Pizzolla’s “Milonga del Angel.”
Other performers include Dan Allcott on cello, Charles Decker on trumpet, Wei Tsun Chang on violin, James Lotz on bassoon, Anne Thurmond on clarinet and William Woodworth on oboe.

The Brass Arts Quintet presents the third concert of the series on Wednesday, June 2, and it will feature new works written for the TTU faculty brass quintet by Danner and trombone professor Joshua Hauser.

Members of the Brass Arts Quintet are Decker and Chris McCormick on trumpets, Danner on horn, Hauser on trombone and R. Winston Morris on tuba.

The series wraps up on Thursday, June 3, with a concert by the Southeast Chamber Music Institute Faculty Jazz Combo, consisting of McCormick on trumpet, Barham on saxophone, Hauser on trombone, Lonnie Breland on piano, Paul Deatherage on drums and Mark Smith on bass.

Songs featured in the closing show will include “Down by the Riverside,” “Sidewinder,” and “Paper Moon.”

To purchase advance tickets or for more information about any of the shows, contact TTU’s Music and Art Department at 931/372-3161.

--Tracey LeFevre
This information posted 27 May 2004